VAR decided the biggest games of the 2026 World Cup, and then IFAB admitted it was used incorrectly twice. The full verdict: what worked, what failed, and the two decisions that changed everything.

This guide covers the two decisions ifab admitted were wrong, argentina vs egypt: the 80-metre review, what was new in 2026, and the final verdict. Each section explains the topic with concrete examples, so you can use what you learn straight away.

More than a week after the tournament, football's law-making body IFAB admitted VAR had been used incorrectly on two occasions during the World Cup. Switzerland's Breel Embolo was sent off in the quarter-final against Argentina after VAR wrongly used the mistaken identity rule to overturn a yellow card for simulation, and the second yellow became a red. Paraguay's Miguel Almirón was booked for simulation against the United States in the group stage in the same way, and IFAB confirmed the protocol does not allow VAR to change the offence, only to identify the player.

In the round of 16, Egypt led Argentina 1-0 and scored a second through Mostafa Ziko in the 58th minute, only for VAR to cancel it after reviewing a foul 17 seconds earlier and more than 80 metres from the goal. Argentina came back to win 3-2, and the decision became the defining controversy of the tournament, because FIFA says an attacking phase has no pre-set time or distance limit. Both decisions may be legally defensible, but the different treatment of similar incidents showed why referees must explain where a review began and why.

IFAB approved the biggest expansion of VAR since its 2018 debut specifically for this tournament, adding second yellow cards and incorrectly awarded corner kicks to the reviewable list. The changes were designed to catch more genuine errors without turning every stoppage into a five-minute delay, and most reviews were completed quickly. Across 804 matches studied by IFAB, VAR checks resolved incidents correctly in about 98.9% of cases, and Premier League accuracy on key incidents has risen from 82% before VAR to about 96% now.

VAR made the 2026 World Cup more accurate: clear handballs were spotted, marginal offsides were caught, and the worst refereeing errors were corrected. But it also made the game feel provisional, with crowds waiting for a screen to approve every goal, and the two admitted errors proved the system can still overreach. The honest verdict is that VAR works as a tool but fails as a promise: it reduces errors without removing controversy, and the 2026 tournament proved both halves of that sentence.